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Trans-bashing
Trans-bashing is the act of victimizing a person physically, sexually, or verbally because they are transgendered or transsexual.Guilty plea over transsexual bashing By Mariza O'Keefe in Herlad Sun Unlike gay bashing, it is committed because of the target's actual or perceived gender identity, not sexual orientation. The term has also been applied to hate speech directed at transgender peopleDemagogues of defamation Gay: Where is the outrage when cable TV’s talking heads trash trans people? and at depictions of transgender people in the media that reinforce negative stereotypes about them. Discrimination, including physical or sexual violence against trans people due to transphobia or homophobia, is a common occurrence for trans people.Trans Health Project: A position paper and resolution adopted by the Ontario Public Health AssociationHill, D.B. (2001). Genderism, transphobia, and gender bashing: A framework for interpreting anti-transgender violence. In B. Wallace, & R. Carter (Eds.). A multicultural approach for understanding and dealing with violence: A handbook for psychologists and educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing.Namaste, V.K. (2000a). Invisible lives: The erasure of transsexual and transgendered people. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hate crimes against trans people are common even recently, and "in some instances, inaction by police or other government officials leads to the untimely deaths of transgender victims." The most famous incident was the December 30, 1993 rape and murder of Brandon Teena, a young transman who was raped and murdered by his male friends after they found out he had female genitalia. The story was captured in the film Boys Don't Cry, which earned Hilary Swank the Academy Award for best actress. In Seattle's gay village of Capitol Hill, there is some evidence of an increase in incidents of trans-bashing over the past two years.Gentrification ousting local gay community Differentiating trans-bashing from gay-bashing At least since the Stonewall riots in 1969, transgender people have often been politically aligned with the lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities.Kay Dayus, Transgenders Protest HRC Exec's Visit to Houston, Hous. Voice, Sept. 29, 2000 However, transgender activists argue trans-bashing should be categorized separately from violence committed on the basis of sexual orientation ("gay-bashing").Discrimination and Hate Crimes Against Gender Variant People, It's Time Illinois . . . Political Action for the Gender Variant Community (May 2000) One argument is that conflating violence against trans people with violence against gay people erases the identities of trans people and the truth of what happens to them. However, campaigns against gay-bashing and trans-bashing are often seen as a common cause.'Zero tolderance for gay-trans bashing': Protests mount In one case, perpetrators accused of hate crimes against trans people have tried to use a "trans panic" defense (cf. gay panic defense). The jury deadlocked, but there is evidence they rejected the trans-panic defense. One law journal provided an analysis of the trans-panic defense, arguing in part that the emotional premise of a trans panic defense (shock at discovering unexpected genitals) is different than the emotional premise of a gay panic defense (shock at being propositions by a member of the same sex, perhaps because of one's repressed homosexuality). U.S. hate crime laws covering gender identity In the United States, currently nine states plus the District of Columbia have hate crime laws protecting people victimized on the basis of their gender identity (they are Hawaii, California, Connecticut, New Mexico, Mississippi, Missouri, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington stateHB 2661 - 2005-06: Expanding the jurisdiction of the human rights commission and Washington, D.C.).National Center for Transgender Equality: Hate crimesHuman Rights Campaign: Mississippi Hate Crimes Law The Matthew Shepard Act, which has been passed in various forms by both houses of the current United States Congress, would expand the federal hate crime laws to include gender identity and sexual orientation. References See also * Gay bashing * Hate crime * Violence against LGBT people * Transphobia External links * National Center for Transgender Equality, including information on hate crime laws in the United States * Transgender victims in Massachusetts Category:Abuse Category:Sexual orientation and society Category:Terms